This invention relates to a modular building connecting system.
In conventional high-rise buildings, construction tolerances are strict because the construction and placement of components of each story depend upon the shape and position of the various portions of the immediately preceding story. Field measurements are continuously required, especially for the interior structures which must rely upon actual finished, as built, conditions for their installation. Modifications to hold specified construction tolerances are usually designed into the connecting system for the skeleton of a building. For example, bolted connections in steel construction have oversized or slotted holes to accommodate dimensional errors by adjusting the placement of a nut and bolt.
Computer analysis of the design of a building is often done to predict how the building will respond to external forces, such as earthquakes, so the building design can be modified to reduce the effect of such forces. Movements in a conventional building are difficult to predict because the locations of bolted connections can vary to give a virtually infinite number of combinations. Thus computer analysis is difficult because the values for friction and stress cannot be accurately established.
Modular buildings, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,998, issued to Ollis et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,679, issued to Berman et al., provide for the construction of the various stories of a multi-story structure at a factory and its assembly at the site. Because the fit of each story can be tested at the factory, less in-field measurements are required and changes are more conveniently implemented.
A connecting system for a concrete building utilizing a string of tensioned rods is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,061 issued to Minutoli and Locke. A string of aligned rods pass through conduits in concrete building panels and are connected by nuts. The present invention provides an improved connecting system which is particularly suitable for modular steel buildings.